The Lie of the Land
Guy Shrubsole, William Collins, £22

THIS book provides vital reading for government ministers, activists and anyone who cares about the future of the planet.

Guy Shrubsole reveals how the limited number of people who own land in Britain have overseen the trashing of this asset under the guise of being good stewards.

There are telling statistics, such as that just 5 per cent of the land is taken for private homes and gardens. This figure rises to 8.8 per cent if the definition is extended to all land built on. A further 73 per cent is farmland and 10 per cent forestry.

Agriculture contributes 11 per cent of UK carbon emissions.

Shrubsole asserts that “the biggest drivers of biodiversity loss are agriculture, forestry and shooting.” There is then a comprehensive demolition of private landowners’ claims to be good stewards of the land.

Shrubsole chronicles the damage done to peat on the uplands by grouse shoots. Huge amounts of CO2 have been released through mismanagement, involving the draining and burning of the peat-heavy areas, and all to satisfy the needs of game birds that are ultimately shot.

There are amazing statistics, such as that 50 million pheasants are released to be shot each year by the landowners — more than the total breeding biomass of the entire UK wild bird population. 

The author charts the draining of the fens in Cambridgeshire, initially by 13 landowning venture capitalists, converting it from wetlands to farming land. There has been a subsequent huge release of CO2.

Then there was the destructive role of individuals like Lord Bedford, who in the 19th century brought in invasive damaging species like the grey squirrel.

Shrubsole claims that the funds given to private landowners (£9.2 billion in the last 30 years), in the name of stewardship, to look after and improve the land, has been largely wasted. It would be better spent on buying the land outright and bringing it into the public estate.

Even the national parks are dominated by privately owned farmland.

And matters have got worse over the past 14 years, with cuts to public-sector operators and regulators.

This book, though, is not all doom and gloom but a vision of what can be, as well as a call to action.

Basically, Shrubsole wants to take the land back from the private sphere to the public. He draws inspiration from Scotland, where the Land Reform Act enshrines the community right to buy. So, when land becomes available, community bodies can register an interest. They then have eight months to raise the funds, but can also draw on a community fund.

A similar but more diluted form of the community right to buy exists in England under the Localism Act. But here, there is just six months to raise the funds and community groups can be gazumped. A Community Ownership Fund was established in 2021.

In Scotland, the community ownership process has seen 500,000 acres (2.6 per cent) of the land come under public ownership. Shrubsole looks in detail at the transformation in nature as a result of the public buy out at Langholm Moor in Scotland.

Shrubsole concludes with a 10-point plan of action. The plan includes taking back control of the peat soils of the uplands, presently emitting 3.4 million tonnes of CO2 annually. This includes banning moorland-burning and outlawing driven grouse shooting. Shrubsole believes rewilding the uplands would substantially cut CO2 emissions and achieve the government target of protecting 30 per cent of the land for nature by 2030.

There are also calls for a strong community right to buy in England, using public money to buy land for nature, make polluting landowners pay via a carbon land tax, stopping the mass pheasant releases and making large landowners (1,000 acres-plus) accountable for what they are doing with the land for nature. 

“The public needs to be able to assert that some parts of our land — our most important carbon stores, our most precious ecosystems — have to be managed for the common good, rather than trashed for private gain,” writes Shrubsole.

Guy Shrubsole has come up with a most important book at a crucial time in the present biodiversity and climate crisis. He highlights how the domination of the land by a small number of private interests has helped further that crisis. His recommendations offer a way forward and hope for the future. But only if the public interest finally triumphs over private greed.